“Or perhaps due to overfishing, orcas are running out of their usual food source, forcing them to search for other prey such as great whites?”

“Perhaps. But whatever the reason, orcas are bigger and smarter than great whites, and a definite threat to them. So, yes, it’s possible an orca, or several orcas coordinating their hunting in a pack, spooked Mary Jane into deeper, uncharted water.”

Elsa hovered over the yellow line where it terminated next to the shoreline a little east of Mirissa. “July 8, 2021, 8:44 a.m. This is the last ping received, where my colleague retrieved Mary Jane from the shark net.”

“Which means this would be where she spent the last few weeks of her life.” He pointed to a preceding section of the line where it circled around on itself multiple times. “Can you zoom in there?”

The section of map magnified, revealing an island in the center of the circling line.

“Ah ha!” Marty said, the exclamation steeled with affirmation. His research was coming to life right before his eyes; one of his main hypotheses about the probable habitat of merfolk was that they lived in the shelf waters around islands.

Elsa zoomed in further until the names of political and physical features appeared.

“Peytivu…” he said, reading the name above the island.

“‘Island of Demons,’” she said.

Chapter 13

MARTY

“Island of Demons?”

“That’s what Peytivu means in Tamil. Or perhaps Demon Island—”

“Here you guys are!”

Marty and Elsa turned to find Rad and Jacky standing at the doorway to the dry lab, their hair wet and falling in tangles over their bare shoulders all the way to the white towels wrapped around their torsos. Their cheeks were flushed, either from the champagne in the flutes they each held, or the steaming water from the hot tub. They almost looked like twins.

“Pip told us you were down here,” Rad said. “Isn’t she a peach? So cute I want to squeeze her cheeks. Hi, Dr. Montero.”

“Hello, Miss Gonzalez.”

“What?” Jacky said. “Are we back being all stiff and proper already? I hate stiff and proper.”

“Me too,” Rad said. In a snooty voice she drawled, “You must come to our country house this spring, darling. It’s absolutely divine.”

Giggling, Jacky gripped Rad’s forearm and drawled back, “Oh, you poor thing. Just one country house? We have two, and we’ve already downsized.”

Marty was bemused. “How much have you two clowns had to drink?” he asked them.

“We’re celebrating!” Jacky said. “Elsa, I take it Marty told you the good news?”

“He did indeed. The DNA result is quite remarkable.”

“And Elsa has given me some good news as well,” Marty told them. “The great white shark was tagged with an electronic tracking device, which means we know the approximate location of where it ate the merfolk, which means Pip and I have a place to start looking for other merfolk right away.”

“Right away?” said Rad. “Like when?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning! What about Jacks and me?”